going back through the archives of anesthesiology news....
JANUARY 18, 2012
Selling Your Practice: Five Tips for When Suitors Come Calling
Ownership Structure
The makeup of an anesthesiology practice’s ownership is something that all potential acquirers consider. A practice owned by one or two partners employing, for example, between 50 and 75 clinicians usually will be seen by the buyer as an easier transaction than one that is owned by a large number of physician shareholders. The transaction itself is simpler because the buyer needs to negotiate with only a handful of decision makers. However, although negotiating with fewer shareholders may be simpler, a buyer may still have concerns over paying what could be a sizeable purchase price to a small number of doctors who still may be needed to run the business going forward. For anesthesiology groups with a large number of physician owners, potential acquirers will want to know that, although there is consensus among the shareholders, a few key leaders in the group have been empowered to communicate and negotiate on everyone’s behalf.
Physician groups choosing to sell their practices to a larger buyer often find the experience very rewarding, both financially and operationally. However, sellers do need to understand that although buyers typically strive to minimize change to the practice after closing, they will now be employees of what will likely be a more structured company. The new employer will almost certainly be more metrics driven and cost conscious. Staff layoffs are not a common occurrence in the transactions that we have seen, but buyers will undoubtedly have a focus on maximizing their return on investment. Overall, the feedback that we hear from physician groups that we have worked with is that the experience of selling their practice turned out to be very positive for all involved.
—Paul E. Kacik
......So even though the Suits focus is a return on their investment, the experience of the physicians is still overwhelmingly positive?
Depends on the Suitor? Goes back to my point....if pp groups are being forced to sell to AMC and AMC is a reality for employment in the future, why not pick the best ones that screw you over the least?
From what I've gathered so far, Sheridan and Northstar are quite different than USAP or TeamHealth. Obviously this is a small sample size of stories I've read and been told.
Maybe Anesthesiology News should do a followup piece which physician groups have had positive experiences transitioning to working for the AMC?
Has this already been done?